The Muppets: "Single All the Way"Review

"Single All the Way" may not have been a laugh riot, but it was a good indication that The Muppets may be getting better at delivering genuine sentiment. This episode, plus last week's nicely packaged Gonzo story, showed us that the strength of The Muppets is in their sweetness, not in square-pegging them into a crass, snark-fest.

Now, relationships still were very much at the heart of this one. Not so much of the usual "bedroom eyes" stuff, but it can't be denied that this fall finale was all about couples. Fuzzy lamented losing Becky (though they'd get back together, off-screen, by the end of the episode), Sam pined for Janice, and Piggy began to regret being too proud to fight for Kermit. Again, none of it was particularly funny, but it was nice to see Piggy soften around Kermit in the end and express her misgivings about being overly proud.

Which now - yes - turns Piggy and Kermit into the show's "Will they?/Won't they?" couple. Which now - yes - is a bit of a cheat since the show essentially broke them up in order to get this specific dynamic out of them. A dynamic that is pretty much a hard and fast mainstay of all TV comedy.

If I had to shine a spotlight on one particular Muppet this week, it'd be Deadly. He had a couple of great lines here. Especially "Take if offfff" - when demanding the ugly sweater off Scooter's back. Also, "Can...open...worms...everywhere." Good stuff. Likewise for Big Mean Carl's reading of "The Night Before Christmas."

The plot here was fairly standard. Everything went wrong before the show's annual live Christmas special and so Kermit scrambled for solutions. Which he found by the end, naturally. Mindy Kaling popped in this week as one of the problems, after Kermit discovered she couldn't sing. The other guest here was the band Echosmith, who appeared only in the closing credit part during the crew's post-show party, where Denise was present and center. So it looks like they won't be writing her off off-screen, like I thought they were doing with Becky.

By the way, it was rather odd to have a breakup and a reconciliation without ever seeing Becky. Normally I wouldn't care, but she's been a big part of two episodes now.

The Verdict

It's probably fitting that "Single All the Way" was a touch saccharine as not only was it the fall finale, but it was the show's holiday episode too. And these new Muppets do better with the sweet stuff than the edgy stuff anyhow. Light on laughs, but high on "Awww."

Good

Mindy Kaling guest starred on the Muppets fall finale as Kermit scrambled to keep a live Christmas special on track.